


don't blink

by openended



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Battle of the Line, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/369822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/openended/pseuds/openended
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>prompt for au ficathon: babylon 5, susan ivanova/delenn, the minbari won at the line, <i>soldiers are living proof of our inhumanity</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	don't blink

Delenn meditates more than she attends to her duties now. She meditates for guidance, for answers, for solutions. This war has gone on far too long, a war that never should have started. Her words, her protests, are lost amidst war cries and reminders of _no mercy_.

(Susan trains even when she’s supposed to have downtime, when she isn’t on duty. This is all she has left now and damn if she isn’t going to do it as best she can. She logs hours in the gym, runs through the hallways of her ship – _make a hole!_ – and forgets to sleep.)

They study this Human for longer than they intend. They learn that his soul is Minbari, which answers about as many questions as it raises. She finally has others on her side, others interested in ending this war before any more life – before any more souls – are lost. But the scent of blood is in the air and the order is given despite all protests: _annihilate._

(She throws up when they get the news, and she isn’t the only one. Earth’s last line of defense, completely shattered. Earth itself scorched and burned beyond recognition; no more green continents and white clouds, only red and brown and black. She really is alone now.)

It’s years before they reach a cease fire, the Warrior Caste finally choosing to listen to the Religious Caste, though they do it with sneers and comments of _taking pity_ , though pity is not a concept taught to the Warriors. Delenn stays in her quarters, illuminated only by a single candle, and spends several days fasting and praying for the dead. For the dead of both sides. For the dead of the same soul.

(Susan starts the war as an ensign but ends the war as XO. She’s given quarters on Mars and spends more time than she should gazing out the window at the dusty red landscape. She hears of a project, the Babylon project, an attempt to prevent another war of unimaginable scale. She thinks it’s nice, but can’t help but wonder at the cost of _this_ unimaginable war and whether the galaxy can’t learn its lessons without idealistic projects and tin cans in space.)

If resent were something she allowed herself to feel, Delenn would resent being sent to Mars to work out the intricacies of the Earth-Minbari treaty. She wonders if it’s truly as she is told – that she is the one of the Grey Council most willing to work with Humans and thus the logical choice – or if the universe is beginning to dole out punishment.

(Susan passes the Minbari woman in the hallway and her hand moves to her hip as a matter of instinct, searching for a sidearm that isn’t there. Weapons aren’t allowed out of quarters while she’s here except for official security, vetted and re-vetted and examined by PsiCorps for any hint of going off the rails. The last thing anyone wants is for this war to start up again.)

_They catch each other’s eye and pause for a fraction of a second, an eternity. Accusations – you turned me into this, you turned us into this, I don’t remember what trees look like – hurl through the air only to be caught and neutralized by apologies – I am sorry, this was not meant to happen, you are part of us._

(Her left foot hits the ground, continuing the step she took before their eyes met, and the moment is over. The ambassador continues down the hall with her escort of Human and Minbari security guards and Susan hurries back to her quarters. She looks behind her at the small crowd slowly disappearing as they turn a corner. She sees a swish of a cloak and then the woman is gone. She shakes her head, knocking herself out of a small daydream.)

Only her years of training as an acolyte, and then as a member of the Grey Council, allow Delenn to walk steadily through the hallway without betraying how unsettled she is by the encounter. The Human woman clearly wanted to harm her, wanted an outlet for her wrath and fury, but what Delenn remembers is the spark in her eyes. A moment, however so small, in which they understood each other.

* * *

It’s years before they meet again. The Babylon project is in its fifth incarnation, and for six months they’ve created an impenetrable façade, a silent mutual agreement to not recognize that they’ve ever set eyes on each other before. There is no universe in which they are friends.

Humans and Minbari aren’t quite as bad as Narn and Centauri, but the resemblance is close enough for an ill-advised analogy after too many glasses of beer.

“I would have killed you,” Susan says once they’re alone in the lift.

“I would not have blamed you.”


End file.
